[H]ard|OCP has been spending a lot of time in the world of Deus Ex to test the effectiveness of a variety of GPUs in rendering the game and the various effects with. NVIDIA and AMD have two different methods of taking advantage of the new graphical features in Deus Ex, so this is not just a look at performance but also a look at image quality. Three cards from each vendor were tested, in single monitor setups as well as multi-monitor scenarios. See how your card will stack up in the review.

"Deus Ex: Human Revolution landed a few weeks ago, bringing a worthy addition to one of the most admired PC gaming properties of all time. We've given it a thorough going over, and have lots to share. We test six of the hottest video cards around to show you what this game can really do, along with an in-depth look at image quality."

The release of Deus Ex Human Revolution was a scary time for PC gamers. The main worries were twofold, with the multiple platforms it was released on there was a very good chance that the game would suffer from severe consolitis and with the memory of the second game still giving us nightmares there was a concern that the new game would follow in the footsteps of the second game, not the first.

Thankfully both worries are laid to rest in the first half hour of game play. There is no coddling for those with gamepads, a couple of shots and you are dead and there is no auto-aim function present in the PC version. The hacking mini-game is certainly design such that a mouse is a more efficient interface, especially once the computer catches on to the fact that you are hacking it. There is also far more reading than you would expect in a console game. If you need more convincing, The Tech Report is more than happy to provide.

"It's now 9PM. My plan was to start writing this post three hours ago, but that didn't pan out. Instead of writing, I found myself running around in circa-2027 Hengsha Island, China, splitting up my time between sleuthing, sneaking, and breaking bones. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is just one of those games—the kind that has you persuading yourself to stop after just one more mission... before playing for another three hours and wondering where your evening went."

Yesterday the news broke that GameStop had opened new copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution PC games, and removed OnLive coupons before selling the games as new. Today, Ars Technica reports that the brick and mortar game retailer has responded to the backlash by taking their ball and going home (as the expression goes) by pulling all copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution from store shelves.

According to a screenshot of an email posted by GameLife (shown below), GameStop has sent out an email to employees to pull all Regular PC Edition of Deus EX: Human Revolution, and place them in storage to be returned to the vendor in the future. The company further stated that the reason for pulling the copies of the game is due to the included OnLive coupon competing with their own Spawn Labs Gaming Division. “We are returning all copies of the PC regular edition to the vendor in agreement with Square Enix.”

Fortunately, any customers who had the game reserved will still be able to purchase the game if they still wished to. Returns of the game will also be honored for those with a receipt.

While this move has been supported (publicly) by Square Enix, it is sure to only further enrage customers, and result in bad PR. The issue for most customers is not the removal of the free OnLive coupon included in the package in and of itself, but the fact that GameStop represented these games and new and unopened to customers. When customers found out that their new games, which they paid a new premium price for, were actually opened (and had materials removed) prior to them purchasing them many were understandably displeased over the mis-communication.

While pulling all copies is well within the companies right, as is removing the coupons (so long as the games are not then advertised and sold as new and unopened) it is not going to help calm the waters. It is hardly my place to suggest to the company how they conduct opertions; however, as a consumer I feel that they should know their practice and recent reactions are a bit unnvering. Do you think GameStop is handling the situation correctly? What would you like to see the company do to assuage its customers?

The news out of Montreal is good, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is off to the production lines as the gold DVD has been stamped. That means that come August 23 you will be able to pick it up at stores or use the copy you pre-ordered through Steam. That doesn't give us any guarantees as to the quality of the game, though the trailers seem good and more importantly the gameplay previews do as well. With Eidos it is hard to say how good the dialog and story will be as they've been the makers of some of the worst and some of the best examples over the years. Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN better not have been lied to!

"Humans! The promised day has arrived. Some said it wasn’t possible. Some said rude, badly-spelled things in capital letters. Others were simply impatient. No matter: it has happened. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the third game in the series that has an awful lot to do with why an awful lot of us remain faithful, unswervingly loyal PC gamers to do this day, has gone gold. And I’m not just talking about its colour pallete. It is finished, Eidos Montreal have just revealed. Complete. Ready. Well, ready as it’ll ever be – and that means its release date on August 23 is actually happening."

Jean-Francois Dugas, the Director of Edios Montreal, grabs a controller and takes you through three minutes of the game. Even better is that this is not a hand picked blood bath, he starts in a public lab area with civilians wandering around, which he has to find a way in. Stealth melee takedowns are shown, as well as the ability to drag unconcious bodies to a hidden area to ensure you are not given away by a trail of corpses. Unfortunately since they are playing the console version it is difficult to say what the PC interface will be like but it seems that the contextual menus may have been done better than many console/PC releases. Check out the full preview at Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN!

"Check it out. Here are twelve (count ‘em!) minutes of hot Deus Ex: Human Revolution footage, courtesy of the overflowing infinite video vat at IGN. Eidos Montreal Director Jean-Francois Dugas shows us around a section of the game located in “Tai Young Medical”, where Jensen is on a critical mission to collect some information from a data core. Why is it always a data core? It’s never data-lollipops or data-bears… Hmm."